“Perhaps.”
He grinned. “She learns.”
“Did you acquire a greater depth of power when you killed the prince, or do you have new abilities?”
“I don’t know.”
I could have always had people talking in my mind and shadows dancing around me. Definitely could have been so subtle I never, ever noticed. For sure. At least that’s what I told myself to circumvent his ‘no lying’ command. I’d learned long ago you only give the information you have to and nothing more.
“Bring them out,” he demanded.
My body trembled with the compulsion. I wanted to. Needed to. It was all I could think about the second the command left his lips. But nothing happened.
He stared for a long time, waiting patiently before he said, “No matter. Perhaps they just need a little persuasion. Let me see your full potential, Huntress.” Alastor’s eyes gleamed with cruel anticipation as he raised his hand. The air thickened, crackling with dark energy. I braced myself for whatevertorment he was about to inflict, determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break. His Remnants surged forward, sliding down his arms in a tidal wave of shadows that crashed over me with devastating force. The impact drove the air from my lungs, leaving me gasping as darkness coiled around my limbs, sinking wicked talons into my flesh. Pain exploded through every part of me, white-hot and all-consuming.
My own Remnants erupted in response, bursting from my skin in a chaotic storm. They clashed with Alastor’s shadows, hissing. The collision of our powers sent shockwaves rippling through the air, shattering the empty merchant stalls and cracking the cobblestones beneath our feet.
As the two forces battled for dominance, my mind splintered. A cacophony of voices flooded my consciousness, drowning out all rational thought. They whispered and screamed, cajoled and threatened, a thousand conflicting impulses tearing me apart from the inside.
“No,” I yelled, covering my hands with my ears. But the voices didn’t listen. They never did.
So weak.
You’re not supposed to break.
I could see Alastor’s lips moving, his face contorted with fury as he shouted commands, but his words were lost in the deafening roar inside my head. My own screams echoed distantly, as if coming from somewhere far away.
The world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of pain and fractured memories. It started with heat that seared every nerve. A thousand swords could’ve plunged into my back and I wouldn’t have felt it beyond the absolute skin-ripping agony that overwhelmed every piece of me. I was never a child. Never a woman. Never loved. Never betrayed. Never anything. Only pain. Always pain. Suffering.
Suffering.
The agony crescendoed until reality fractured, splintering like glass beneath the weight of a thousand screaming voices. Each one tore through me with savage glee, ripping away pieces of who I was until nothing remained but raw nerve endings exposed to bitter winter winds.
Pathetic.Worthless.You deserve this pain.
I couldn’t remember where I was. Who I was. The pain consumed everything, burning through muscle and bone. Whatever point Alastor meant to prove, I hoped this was everything he had to throw at me. I hoped this misery would sweep me away and end it all.
He saw right through you.You were never worthy. Just the bait.
Just the bait.
The bait.
My skin felt too tight, like it was shrinking, contracting around muscles that wanted to tear free. The world spun and tilted, reality bending until up became down and darkness became light. I tried to cling to something, anything real, but there was nothing to hold on to except the voices and their poison-laced promises. Until whatever Alastor’s intention was shattered, and I was left to fade into nothing.
When I finally opened my eyes, I was sprawled on the cold stone floor in an empty room. The silence should have been a relief, but it only made the voices louder. They bounced off bare walls, echoing in the hollow space where my thoughts used to be.
Find your strength or lose yourself.
Don’t bend.
Not yet, Huntress.
I could barely manage to swallow. “Please,” I begged behind cracked lips. “Stop.”
I could handle Alastor. I couldn’t handle the voices that haunted me so relentlessly.
Fight back, then.
